Current PhD Students

Year of Program Entry: 2022
Faculty Advisor(s): Kate Wilber
Faculty Lab Site: The Secure Old Age Lab
Email: ebatista@usc.edu

Eleanor Batista-Malat is a PhD candidate at the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Before starting at USC, she graduated from Earlham College with a BA in psychology and worked as a research coordinator. Eleanor’s work focuses on home- and community-based services and the role of healthcare systems in elder abuse detection and prevention. She is working under the direction of Kate Wilber in the Secure Old Age Lab and the USC Center for Elder Justice.

Year of Program Entry: 2024
Faculty Advisor(s): Lauren Brown
Email: cbrown45@usc.edu

Cameron Brown is a doctoral student at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Before starting at USC, Cameron completed a B.A. in Health and Human Biology, with a focus on Brain Health and Behavior, and a M.S. in Pathology and Biology at Brown University. Her research interests include health disparities in cancer risk and treatment and increasing the diversity of participants for studies and clinical trials. She is working under the direction of Lauren Brown.

Year of Program Entry: 2025
Faculty Advisor(s): Jennifer Ailshire
Email: jcapaldi@usc.edu

Jessica Capaldi is a doctoral student at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. She has a particular interest in aging and longevity, with a focus on women’s health, menopause trajectories, cancer survivorship, and how health behaviors and environmental factors influence how we age. Before coming to USC, Jessica earned a BA in Biology and International Relations from the University of San Diego and an MA in Education Policy and Administration from Loyola Marymount University. Professionally, Jessica taught middle school science in Los Angeles for eight years and conducted clinical research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for five years.

Year of Program Entry: 2025
Faculty Advisor(s): Teal Eich
Faculty Lab Site: The Lifespan Cognition Lab
Email: glcheng@usc.edu

Gloria is a PhD student at the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Her research interests center on age-related changes in memory and cognition, with an emphasis on identifying early neural and behavioral markers of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Before joining the Lifespan Cognition Lab, she earned her B.S. in Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, and later worked as a research coordinator in the Stanford Memory Lab.

Year of Program Entry: 2021
Faculty Advisor(s): Teal Eich
Faculty Lab Site: The Lifespan Cognition Lab
Email: chihyuan@usc.edu

Jessie is a PhD candidate focusing on Cognitive Psychology of Aging. Her research focuses on exploring the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying age-related differences in memory specificity and how these differences might influence decision-making in both younger and older adults. Before coming to USC, she received her M.A. in Psychology from Brandeis University (Master’s thesis advisor: Angela Gutchess) and a B.S. in Psychology from Penn State University.

Year of Program Entry: 2024
Faculty Advisor(s): Jennifer Ailshire
Email: sungeunc@usc.edu

Sung Eun Cho is a doctoral student at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Her research focuses on how neighborhood environments shape health outcomes in later life, with a particular focus on spatial inequalities. As a member of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) Contextual Data Resource (CDR) team, she is currently examining the health impacts of neighborhood environmental hazards among U.S. older adults. Before joining USC, she earned a B.A. in Urban Sociology from the University of Seoul and an M.A. in Sociology from Yonsei University.

Year of Program Entry: 2020
Faculty Advisor(s): Mireille Jacobson
Faculty Lab Site: The Jacobson Lab
Email: estenson@usc.edu

Lilly Estenson is a doctoral candidate at the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. She previously completed her Bachelor of Arts at Scripps College and her Master of Social Work at the University of Michigan. She is interested in how social and policy factors affect health insurance enrollment and health care utilization. Her current work focuses on predictors, characteristics, and outcomes of Medicare enrollment and coverage choices.

Year of Program Entry: 2024
Faculty Advisor(s): Jennifer Ailshire
Email: tongyugu@usc.edu

Tori is a PhD student at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology working with Professor Jennifer Ailshire. Her research focuses on the social and environmental determinants of cognitive and mental health in older adults, particularly using survey methods. Before starting to pursue a doctorate in Los Angeles where there is always another day of sun, Tori obtained an M.A. in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and a B.Sc. (Hons) in Quantitative Psychology with a minor in Genderand Sexuality studies from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where populations ‘are not made of sugar and will not melt in the rain’.

Year of Program Entry: 2024
Faculty Advisor(s): Lauren Brown
Email: kenyalun@usc.edu

Kenya Luna is a doctoral student in the Gerontology program at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology under the mentorship of Lauren Brown. She completed her BA in Psychology and her MA in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience at Cal State San Bernardino. Her primary research interests include health disparities in Hispanic/Latino populations with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Year of Program Entry: 2024
Faculty Advisor(s): Michelle Keller
Email: dinithip@usc.edu

Dinithi Perera is a doctoral student at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Having completed her Bachelor and Master’s in law in the UK and US, she’s worked in clinical trials management for dementia prevention research for several years in Europe, in both academic and non-profit research institutions. Her research interests focus on Alzheimer’s disease in the South Asian population, particularly in relation to the impact of immigration and acculturation on health and social care access and utilization. She works under the direction of Michelle Keller.

Year of Program Entry: 2024
Faculty Advisor(s): Francesca Falzarano
Email: rojasea@usc.edu

Elizabeth Rojas, a two-time graduate of USC’s Leonard Davis School is currently a second-year PhD student working under the direction of Francesca Falzarano. As a Research Assistant in the Falzarano Family Caregiving Lab, Elizabeth is interested in understanding caregiving for patients affected by cognitive decline and its implications on an expert level. A gerontologist by training, Elizabeth’s ultimate ambition is to help older adults and their families alleviate their most acute stressors.

Year of Program Entry: 2021
Faculty Advisor(s): Elizabeth Zelinski
Email: srrubins@usc.edu

Stephanie Rubinstein is a doctoral candidate at the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Prior to her start at USC, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Music from Loyola University Maryland in 2017. She then went on to work as a research assistant at Boston University School of Medicine for the New England Centenarian Study, under the direction of Tom Perls. Her primary research interests center around examining the psychosocial experience of older adult bereaved parents. She is currently working under the advisement Elizabeth Zelinski.

Year of Program Entry: 2021
Faculty Advisor(s): Jon Pynoos, John Walsh
Faculty Lab Sites: The Pynoos Lab
Email: mengzhay@usc.edu

Mengzhao Yan is a PhD Candidate at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, where he earned a Master’s degree in Aging Services Management and has worked as a staff member. He completed his undergraduate education in business administration at Beijing Foreign Studies University in China and worked as an administrator and researcher there. He is dedicated to studying how to optimize services, programs, and products to improve older persons’ health and well-being and support them aging in place. His current work focuses on home modifications for aging in place. He holds a California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFE) Administrator License. 

Year of Program Entry: 2022
Faculty Advisor(s): Teal Eich, Elizabeth Zelinski
Faculty Lab Sites: The Lifespan Cognition Lab (Eich)
Email: dokyung@usc.edu

Dokyung Yoon is a PhD candidate at the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Dokyung received a BA in Psychology and a BS in Child and Family Studies from Yonsei University in South Korea. She also completed her Master of Arts in Child and Family Studies at Yonsei University. She is currently investigating how social and biological factors shape cognitive aging. Her research examines the impact of social isolation, exploring how different patterns of social isolation relate to specific domains of cognition. She also studies biological influences, focusing on sex hormone changes during the menopausal transition. By integrating these perspectives, her work aims to reveal how social and biological factors interact to influence cognition in midlife and older women.

Year of Program Entry: 2024
Faculty Advisor(s): Mara Mather
Faculty Lab Site: Emotion & Cognition Lab
Personal Website
Email: wenhuiz@usc.edu

Wenhui Zhao is a PhD student at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Mentored by Dr. Mara Mather, he applies advanced statistics and multimodal neuroimaging techniques to study MRI-based markers of the locus coeruleus, their links to cognitive function and Alzheimer’s disease, and how cognitive training shapes brain structure and function. Before joining USC, he earned a B.S. in Quantitative Psychology from Jiangxi Normal University in 2021 and worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2021–2024). During this time, he developed skills in machine learning, digital signal processing, human genomics, and neuroimaging techniques.

Year of Program Entry: 2025
Faculty Advisor(s): Daniel Nation
Email: m.quiring@usc.edu

Melanie studies neurovascular aging and vascular contributions to dementia.

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2020
Faculty Advisor(s): Jennifer Garrison
Email: kmadam@usc.edu

Katelyn received her B.S. from UC Berkeley in molecular environmental biology. As an undergraduate she worked in Caroline Williams lab studying physiological ecology. Katelyn joined the Garrison lab as a Research Associate to study the role of neuropeptides in aging and reproductive longevity. She continues her work as a PhD candidate in the USC-Buck PhD program.

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2020
Faculty Advisor(s): Pejmun Haghighi
Email: ammaraly@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: 2021
Faculty Advisor(s): Ryo Sanabria
Faculty Lab Site: The Sanabria Lab

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2023
Faculty Advisor(s): Ashley Webb
Email: mbelser@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: 2022
Faculty Advisor(s): Simon Melov
Email: jpbyrne@usc.edu

Josef Byrne is a PhD student in the USC-Buck Biology of Aging Program in Dr. Simon Melov’s lab at the Buck Institute. Originally from upstate New York, Josef received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University. As an undergraduate, he was involved in research ranging from synthetic glycobiology to computational modeling of biological systems. After his undergraduate tenure, Josef served as a Scientist in Merck Vaccine Process Development where he designed purification strategies and co-led tech transfers to bring novel vaccines from the bench top to the clinic to protect against pathogens ranging from S. pneumoniae to SARS-CoV-2. Upon noticing the notable progress towards developing clinically tangible interventions to extend healthy lifespan, Josef pivoted to the biogerontology field through the USC-Buck program and is currently assessing potential PhD projects. When not in the lab or coding, Josef enjoys playing percussion and doing martial arts.

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2023
Faculty Advisor(s): Ashley Webb
Email: caicathe@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: 2022
Faculty Advisor(s): Valter Longo
Email: dollycho@usc.edu

Dolly received her B.S. from the University of Southern California in biochemistry. As an undergraduate student she worked in the Dr. Longo lab studying the effects of fasting on Alzheimer’s disease. Dolly joined the Longo lab as a Research Technician to study the effects fasting and nutrition have in the prevention of senescence. She continues her work as a PhD candidate in the USC-Buck PhD program.

Year of Program Entry: 2021
Faculty Advisor(s): Peter J. Mullen, Ryo Higuchi-Sanabria
Email: acoakley@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: 2021
Faculty Advisor(s): Eric Verdin
Email: afloro@usc.edu

Ariel is a Ph.D. student in Dr. Eric Verdin’s lab at the Buck Institute. She graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics and a minor in Biomedical Research. Her undergraduate research focused on the structure of the HIV accessory protein vpr. After graduating, she worked as a research associate, studying inflammation in macrophages via UVB radiation and the neuro-immune interactions of psoriasis. She decided to pursue aging research as it ties together her passions for science and healthy living. Aside from lab, she enjoys training and teaching martial arts and wrestling.

Year of Program Entry: 2022
Faculty Advisor(s): Valter Longo
Email: giacomo@usc.edu

Giacomo is a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Southern California pursuing the Biology of Aging’s doctoral program in the School of Gerontology. Educated at the University of Camerino (Italy), he graduated with honors for his BSc in Nutritional Biology, completing his thesis on genetic polymorphisms in Fibromyalgia Syndrome patients. Upon graduation, Giacomo’s academic career continued at the University of Trieste (Italy) and Rennes 1 (France), where he earned a double degree Master of Science in Functional Genomics and Molecular and Cellular Biology defending the thesis entitled “3-ß-hydroxybutyrate supplementation decreases pancreatic cancer cell line viability in vitro”.
As a researcher in Professor Valter Longo’s laboratory, Giacomo collaborates with the research team still conducting his studies. His interest at the USC focuses on how nutrient-sensing pathways regulate health, longevity, and cancer metabolism. His scientific background is based on cell biology, molecular biology, genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and biochemistry, all of which are highly relevant to his focus on cancer research and health-lifespan studies.

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2022
Faculty Advisor(s): Ryo Sanabria
Faculty Lab Site: The Sanabria Lab
Email: ahruby@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2022
Faculty Advisor(s): Julie Andersen
Email: junweihu@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2023
Faculty Advisor(s): Malene Hansen
Email: keuchel@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2023
Faculty Advisor(s): Ryo Sanabria
Faculty Lab Site: The Sanabria Lab
Email: jurikim@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2023
Faculty Advisor(s): Michael Bonaguidi
Email: miliu@usc.edu

Faculty Advisor(s): Bérénice Benayoun
Faculty Lab Site: The Benayoun Lab

Ryan is a PhD student in the Biology of Aging program at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. He received his Bachelor’s degree in cell and development at California State University of Fullerton. Ryan’s research focuses on understanding the sex dimorphic impact on the aging immune system. He is currently trying to characterize the impact of aging and sex on macrophage function. As well as understanding the mechanism that contributes to the sex dimorphic phenotypes observed. His research has been funded by the NIA T32 Training Grant and Diana Jacobs Kalman/AFAR scholarship for research in biology of aging.

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2021
Faculty Advisor(s): Lisa Ellerby
Email: tynemchu@usc.edu

Faculty Advisor(s): Changhan David Lee

Michelle is a PhD student in the Biology of Aging program in the Lee lab. She received her B.S. in neuroscience and B.A. in anthropology at Tulane University, before moving to New York to do research in the Choi lab at Weill Cornell Medicine. Her research there focused on understanding the role of necroptosis and extracellular mitochondrial DNA in lung and kidney injury. As a graduate student in the Lee lab, Michelle is interested in how the innate immune system changes with age and the role of mitochondrial-derived peptides in immunometabolism. When not in the lab, Michelle may be found under a beach umbrella eating a taco.

Year of Program Entry: 2020
Faculty Advisor(s): Jennifer Garrison
Email: atr02872@usc.edu

Andrew studied Bioengineering at Stanford University and got his master’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UCSB. After that, Andrew worked in industry for a few years testing the biological effects of radiation-based cancer treatments at Varian, then worked for a year with Professor Brack at UCSF in muscle stem cell biology. In the Buck Institute laboratory of Professor Jennifer Garrison, Andrew is investigating how neuropeptide signaling can regulate healthspan and longevity.

Year of Program Entry: 2019
Faculty Advisor(s): Valter Longo
Faculty Lab Site: The Longo Lab
Email: mshelech@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2022
Faculty Advisor(s): Julie Andersen
Email: siebrand@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Spring 2021
Faculty Advisor(s): Malene Hansen
Email: linghsua@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2023
Faculty Advisor(s): Cristal Hill
Faculty Lab Site: The Hill Lab
Email: pvaddi@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2019
Faculty Advisor(s): Michael Bonaguidi
Email: wxiang50@usc.edu

Wang is a PhD student at the USC-Buck Institute Biology of Aging PhD program, she has extensive experience in the fields of bioinformatics and  computational biology. She completed her Bachelor of Science at Harbin Medical University, China majored in Bioinformatics. As a member of the Bonaguidi Lab at the USC Broad CIRM Center, she studies stem cell biology, neuron science, aging biology, scRNA-seq transcriptomics and pharmacogenomics. Her research focuses on integration of single-cell omics and pharmacogenomics for neurological disease. Specifically, she aims to define NSC rejuvenation mechanisms using pharmaceutical bioinformatics networks and identify drugs targeting immature astrocyte states in human epilepsy through single cell pharmacogenomics.

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2023
Faculty Advisor(s): Anne Hiniker
Email: woojeong@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2024
Faculty Advisor(s): Christian Pike
Email: ajouz@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2025
Faculty Advisor(s): Bérénice Benayoun
Faculty Lab Site: The Benayoun Lab
Email: skyechen@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2025
Email: xuanyi@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2024
Faculty Advisor(s): Sara Espinoza
Email: jtholmes@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2025
Email: piyengar@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2024
Faculty Advisor(s): Changhan David Lee
Faculty Lab Site: The Lee Lab
Email: jkim2221@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2024
Faculty Advisor(s): Pinchas Cohen
Faculty Lab Site: The Cohen Lab
Email: changyeo@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2024
Faculty Advisor(s): Ryo Sanabria
Faculty Lab Site: The Sanabria Lab
Email: sparihar@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: Fall 2025
Faculty Advisor(s): Sean Curran
Faculty Lab Site: The Curran Lab
Email: minweiwa@usc.edu

Email: kalemu@usc.edu

Year of Program Entry: 2020
Faculty Lab Site: The Cohen Lab
Faculty Advisor(s): Pinchas Cohen
Email: zreyna@usc.edu

Zeferino Reyna is a Molecular Biology Graduate Program PhD student at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. He is interested in understanding the interplay between mitochondrial-derived peptides and the immune system that lead to inflammatory diseases and aging with the hope that one day we will put these ailments behind us. Outside of the lab, Zeferino likes to unwind with a bottle of good wine and cheese, while relaxing at the beach. He enjoys most sports, but especially water sports.

Year of Program Entry: 2017
Faculty Advisor(s): Sean Curran
Email: nstuhr@usc.edu

Nicole is a PhD student in the Molecular and Computational Biology program. She is completing her PhD in Sean Curran’s lab at the School of Gerontology. Nicole is interested in understanding the relationship between diet and aging and determining what genes are important for preventing the onset of age-related diseases using the model organism C. elegans.

Year of Program Entry: 2019
Faculty Advisor(s): Jennifer Ailshire, Eileen Crimmins
Email: rwilkie@usc.edu

Rachel Wilkie is a PhD Candidate in the Population, Health, and Place program, run by the Spatial Sciences department in USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. Her dissertation focuses on socioeconomic inequalities and cross-national comparisons in life expectancy and healthy aging, primarily using national longitudinal surveys of health and aging.